John Legend is welcome to join the Cultural Boycott of Israel. On 30 July, he tweeted “So sick watching our Secretary of State have to grovel so hard to tell Israel how much he loves them while Israeli cabinet shits on him.”

John Kerry is not unlike some musicians, who also grovel for the apartheid state. Lady Gaga, Elton John and Madonna all played for Israel, ignoring the Palestinian call for a cultural boycott. No doubt Legend will be asked to play in Tel Aviv, but from all accounts it looks as if he won’t grovel.

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Bianca Jagger, with over 42,000 followers on twitter, tweeted “Israel must stop the killing and destruction RT Gaza’s 9/11: Israel destroys highrise building in #Gaza (LINK)” Bianca jagger is enthusiastically invited to join the PACBI’s Call for a Cultural and Academic Boycott of Israel.

The Norwegian YMCA-YWCA and YMCA-YWCA Global hope this non-violent instrument can contribute to a solution with a just peace for both parties. God created all people in his image, equal in dignity – and that human dignity is violated now daily in the Palestinian territories.

Jesus said blessed are the peacemakers – and we must try to help – with the non-violent means available. The peace movement on both sides need our active solidarity.

Tung. Debate about Israel and Palestine experienced in many Christian organizations and churches as heavy and difficult. Many people choose to leave it. Secretary General of the Association of YWCA (World YWCA) reminded us recently that “Silence is also a statement.” To let the debate remain basically means accepting the status quo.

We will not accept the status quo in Palestine and Israel. Both Israelis and Palestinians have a right to self-determination within internationally recognized borders, in recognition of its elected leadership and just peace with security for the civilian population.

Israel’s rights must be maintained, but the occupation of Palestine is unacceptable. Because a long series of UN resolutions and negotiations for decades have not yielded results, we believe it is now appropriate to initiate economic boycott of Israel to put increased pressure on the authorities to follow up UN resolutions to end the occupation.

We encourage broad economic boycott of products from Israel, Israeli settlements and from companies that actively participate in the occupation.

Non-violence. YMCA-YWCA Global has over the last 40 years working closely with the YMCA and YWCA of Palestine. YWCA and YMCA are important community of Christian Palestinians, they have a heavy social commitment and strengthens young people in struggle and faith in justice and peace – only using non-violent means.

We are distressed when we see how the Palestinians constantly subjected to undignified treatment. We understand that they get angry when they lose access to the land they cultivate, as they struggle with water shortages while settlers on the hill have more than enough, when children must be accompanied by companions to school to be protected from harassment, when soldiers suddenly close all the checkpoint and many youth loses a teaching or a doctor’s appointment. Or if they encounter a wall growing up in the neighborhood and they do not know whether their house will stand.

Rights on the Israeli side also violated as a result of the conflict. We understand that Israeli families are weary and despairing of living in fear of rockets and suicide bombs. We understand that they seek to create security for themselves and their families.

Sin. We are humble when we see the YWCA and YMCA youth searching for ways to achieve justice and equal living conditions, without resorting to violence. We want to strengthen and support their involvement.

In 2009, we faced a challenge from church leaders and laity in Bethlehem authored “A Moment of Truth – Kairos Palestine”. The authors declare clearly that the military occupation is a sin against God and man, and express strongly that a theology which defends the occupation is far from Christian teachings.

They believe true Christian theology challenge to solidarity with the oppressed, and the love that is reflected in action. They defend the Palestinians’ right and duty to participate in non-violent resistance to injustice they suffer from. Specifically, we were on a theological basis, encouraged to join the creative and non-violent resistance, specified as involvement in economic boycott of everything produced as part of the occupation and withdrawal of investments in such purposes.

Wide boycott. We advocate a broad economic boycott both because it is impossible for consumers to know if a product is manufactured in the occupied territories or not, and because the purchase of Israeli products or investments in Israeli companies contribute financially to the occupation that Israel is responsible for .

It is important to recognize that a conflict has multiple pages. As a church we are challenged to take sides with those who suffer most and who do we speak for yourselves. The Israeli government has a superior military force and is occupying. Palestinian authorities and the civilian population carries a variety of offending and violent acts, but they are currently the weakest party. This gives Israel the primary responsibility to end the occupation and restore justice and peace.

Legally. Whilst negotiations are attempted for many laps, Israel’s position has become stronger. An economic boycott is a strong but legal and non-violent means. We encourage organizations, churches and individuals to support our position. This position is really held in love, both for Israelis and Palestinians.

In this article by Anshel Pfeffer | Oct. 18, 2013 | 8:01 AM , there are plenty of errors about what BDS is all about, but it does show the great effect BDS has. It fails to affirm that the threat to Israelis is that Israel would become a democratic state with equal rights for all.

BDS battleground

Today’s battle is BDS – the boycott, divestment and sanctions campaign being waged against Israel. Significant efforts are being invested by the government and pro-Israel organizations to fend off BDS. This week I discovered that in the Israeli embassy in London alone, there are two people (one diplomat and a local employee) whose full-time brief is to monitor and counter BDS attempts. Apparently the Foreign Ministry with its diplomatic corps is not enough and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has added fighting BDS to the responsibilities of Strategic Affairs Minister Yuval Steinitz.

Has the boycott campaign actually caused Israel any real economic harm? Its meager list of much-trumpeted successes in getting companies and local authorities to drop Israeli products all together do not even amount to a pinprick to Israel’s economy.

BDS has failed to create any form of pressure on Israel to change its policies. A week after Israeli scientists yet again won Nobel prizes and days after Facebook announced it was opening a new development center in Israel, any talk of academic or economic isolation of Israel sounds ridiculous. Yet it’s not only generals and politicians who feel an unease landing in some countries, especially in Europe. You can hear that discomfort when talking with academics looking for a university for their post-doctorate year and business people trying to drum up interest in professional conferences.

I still believe that in the wider picture of economic development and scientific cooperation the damage is minimal, but the noise made by the Lawfare and BDS rabble-rousers has fed into an already existing atmosphere of suspicious paranoia which is causing much greater harm to Israelis than any boycott of Israeli produce at a British supermarket or decision by a professor, even one as well-known as Stephen Hawking, not to speak in Israel, can ever cause.

Israel has no reason to object to the principle of universal jurisdiction, whereby countries or international courts can put individuals on trial for crimes committed outside their usual jurisdiction — after all, the Eichmann trial in 1961 was a unique demonstration of that principle. Neither has Israel any reason to fear that its officers or officials will be put on trial in democracies acting upon universal jurisdiction. As long as Israel’s Supreme Court remains open to petitions against the decisions of civilian and military authorities and exercises its powers, no one can credibly claim that a foreign court has to intervene in Israel’s internal legal affairs. Universal jurisdiction can be applied only where it is proven that there is no legal authority with the power to serve justice. And as long as Israel’s economy and research institutes have so much to offer, no economic boycott will have much of an effect.

The real harm of these campaigns is that they fuel the siege mentality that prevents Israelis from embracing any real change in its relations with the “foreigners” within and with its closest neighbors. A nation constantly on guard from outsiders seeking to delegitimize its existence will never be capable of developing a more humane attitude toward refugees and migrants within its borders or overcoming the psychological barriers preventing it from reaching a realistic settlement with the Palestinians (even before we can confront the major obstacles the Palestinians themselves have).

We have to see these “threats” for what they are to be able not only to neutralize them but to prevent them from dominating our consciousness. Israel’s economy is not about to be crippled by boycotts and IDF officers will not be languishing in foreign jails anytime soon. But Israelis have made themselves prisoners in their own minds and it’s time to break the siege.

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Hop on over to the Crest Theater in Sacramento on 3 Oct for a special screening of Where should the birds fly? Fida Qishta will be there for two Q & A forums, one at 5:30, another at 8 pm.

Details:

Mona Samouni was 10 when the Israeli military bombed her home, killing her parents and additional family members in the three-week assault on Gaza known as Operation Cast Lead in December 2008 and January 2009.Fida Qishta, born and raised in Rafah, Gaza, began her filmmaking career as a wedding videographer and soon moved on to work with international human rights observers and media in Gaza, documenting day to day life under siege with her commentaries and video reports.

Where Should the Birds Fly? is a compilation from those reports and additional footage shot by Qishta and her Palestinian crew, carefully organized and narrated to contextualize the film’s primary focus: the emotional and psychological effects of the Israeli attacks on Mona, her surviving family and friends, including the filmmaker herself.

Fida Qishta will be at this event to speak about her experience along with a screening of her film.

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Israel commits crime of apartheid: "Inhumane acts of a character similar to other crimes against humanity "committed in the context of an institutionalized regime of systematic oppression and domination by one racial group over any other racial group or groups and committed with the intention of maintaining that regime."